The Gleaners Analysis

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Recommended: Negative portrayal of women in the media

Women and nature have almost always been viewed as inexplicably intertwined. Whether it be by the cycles of the moon or by the seeming existence of “mother’s intuition,” artists and writers for centuries have been examining the relationship between women and nature. Similarly, the relationship between women and work has also been explored. Artists explored this to no end, especially at the beginning of the women’s rights movement. Gustave Courbet’s The Grain Sifters, 1854 and Jean-François Millet’s The Gleaners, 1857 are but two examples.
The women’s rights activism started gaining momentum in 1848 during the very first women’s convention in New York. This happened only a few years before these paintings were painted, however it is more than
It does, however, demonstrate a similar back-breaking work as Millet’s painting. These women are dressed in brighter, more forward clothing, particularly the woman in red who is the central figure. Because of their position being inside, these ladies are paler and are focusing on the processing of the grain that was harvested, perhaps even by the same women in Millet’s painting. It shows a slightly higher tier of the working class of women in this time; rather than slaving away outside, they break their backs inside with monotonous and tedious work. One thing to note in this painting is that there is a young boy to the right examining a box. With a little digging, it can be found that this box is actually a modified piece of technology: a sifter with even finer mesh than that of the ladies. Courbet is throwing in our faces that even the little boy and the box are at a higher position in society than them. On the left, a woman seems to almost be asleep. In detail, you can see the shadows framing her face and the hollowness of her eye sockets. She is clearly sleep-deprived from this unvaried work. More care is taken by these women, whether forced or not, to look their best no matter what work is being done. They must be more presentable and are likely working in the same household as the owner lives and therefore must dress to respect them. Courbet paints these women in a way that is much more objectified

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